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Surge is a global flow instability occurring in centrifugal compressors at low mass-flow rate operation. Due to its violent nature, it is the limiting factor for operability. To enhance the operating range, understanding of the flow instability inception when approaching surge is essential. Therefore, the flow evolution along a speed line is analysed by performing unsteady, three-dimensional flow simulations using a centrifugal compressor geometry with ported shroud. A stable operating condition, at high mass-flow rates, is compared to lower mass-flow rate operating conditions close to and at surge. The particularities of the flow-fields are analysed and described. A smooth flow-field is observed for the stable operating condition, whereas flow reversal manifesting as tip leakage at the outer periphery of the impeller occurs for all o↵-design operating conditions. The reversed flow exhibits swirling motion in the impeller rotation direction. This induces a globally swirling flow upstream of the impeller, which influences the flow incidence angles at the blades and hence, their e ciency. Proper orthogonal decomposition and dynamic mode decomposition have been performed to analyse the flow structures appearing with surge more thoroughly. For the lowest mass-flow rate operating condition, low frequency modes describing the filling and emptying processes during surge have been found.

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The intra-glottal vortical structures developed in a static divergent glottis with continuous flow entering the glottis are characterized. Laryngeal airflow calculations are performed using the Large Eddy Simulation approach. It has been shown that intra-glottal vortices are formed on the divergent wall of the glottis, immediately downstream of the separation point. Even with non-pulsatile flow entering the glottis, the vortices are intermittently shed, producing unsteady flow at the glottal exit. The vortical structures are characterized by significant negative static pressure relative to the ambient pressure. These vortices increase in size and strength as they are convected downstream by the flow due to the entrained air from the supra-glottal region. The negative static pressures associated with the intra-glottal vortical structures suggest that the closing phase during phonation may be accelerated by such vortices. The intra-glottal negative pressures can affect both vocal fold vibration and voice production.

Adenotonsillectomy, the first-line surgical treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children, is successful in only 50% of obese children. Computational fluid dynamics tools, which have been applied to differentiate OSA patients from those without OSA based on the airway flow characteristics, can be potentially used to identify patients likely to benefit from surgical intervention. We present computational modeling of the upper airway before and after adenotonsillectomy in an obese female adolescent with OSA. The subject underwent upper airway imaging on a 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, and three-dimensional airway models were constructed using airway boundary coordinates from cross-sectional MRI scans. Our results using computational simulations indicate that, in an obese child, the resolution of OSA after adenotonsillectomy is associated with changes in flow characteristics that result in decreased pressure differentials across the airway walls and thus lower compressive forces that predispose to airway collapse. Application of such findings to an obese child seeking surgical treatment for OSA can potentially lead to selection of the surgical procedure most likely to result in OSA resolution. Effective intervention for OSA in this high-risk group will result in reduction in morbidity and the public health concerns associated with OSA.